Since the release of the Adobe Creative Cloud for Enterprise (CCE) and the Creative Cloud Packager for Enterprise (CCP) this past June, many institutions are preparing their images and applications for fall semester deployment. These tools are free and are used when deploying applications in the Enterprise. Information about these tools and links to these applications can be found at the URLs below and also on your Adobe Licensing Portal (LWS)In this post we will review the role of CCP and it associated tools. To make things easier, a list of resources follows at the end of this post.

Background

Beginning with CS6 was released, Adobe has been hard at work in providing a more enterprise-friendly environment for packaging and provisioning the applications for deployment across the campus. The individual application installers are being standardized so that they can be packaged into either a .MSI file for Windows or a .PKG file for Mac. These common installer file types can distributed by any means that support them.

Changes to packaging process when deploying CCE

Unlike CS6, CCE packages must be packaged thorough the CCP dashboard. This is an application downloaded from the Adobe Licensing Portal (LWS). CCP will then pull the applications from the Adobe Cloud Server to the local IT admin machine where they can be serialized and packaged for distribution to the machines across campus. The advantage of this packaging is that the software will be pre-activated so that once placed on the destination machine, there will be no need to “phone home” periodically (as it does for named user installations like CC for individuals and Teams). This type of packaging and deployment is known as Anonymous (or machine-based deployment). Note: unlike CS6, there is no ability to enter serial numbers to the individual applications when used in the enterprise. They must be entered via the CCP tool or the Adobe Application Provisioning Tool (AAPT).

Distributing packages

Some common methods for distribution include:

Cloning image masters for replication on client machines using such tools as Casper, Ghost, and Apple Remote Desktop to name a few.

Pushing these packages though Microsoft SCCM, Altiris, or ARD, for example

When network access to the client machine is not practical. placing the package file on the computer desktop and double-clicking will extract it. You must then delete the package file.

Application exceptions when packaging with CCP

While most of the applications for CCE can be packaged with the CCP dashboard, there are still a few that have not bee standardized to run in the common packaging environment. Adobe is working on getting these applications into the CCP family, but until then these applications need to be installed differently.

As of this post, the exceptions are:

Windows – LightRoom 5, Acrobat XI, Muse, and the Edge family of applications still under developer preview in Adobe Labs.

Macintosh – Muse, and the Edge family of applications still under developer preview in Adobe Labs.

Working with Exceptions

Since there are still a few applications that fall outside of the CCP environment, these applications each have a slightly different procedure and requirement for proper deployment. The steps and requirements are available at http://tinyurl.com/ccpackager.

If you do not follow these steps, the apps under exception will not install properly. This includes installing as a trial, or not installing at all so please be sure to review the instructions and test prior to full deployment. The Community Forum is a good place to get more info and answers to specific problems. The Link for the CCE forum can be found here

In Enterprise environments where you are deploying many Acrobat XI installs, you may want to consider packaging Acrobat with the Acrobat Customization Wizard available as part of the Acrobat Enterprise Toolkit at http://tinyurl.com/acroetk. To use this tool, you will enter a separate Acrobat SN in LWS, not the SN supplied with the CC apps. Once the Packages are created they can be deployed as part of your normal distribution process.

Dr. Katherine Nell McNeil, East County Academy of Learning, Lakeside Union School District, San Diego, California.

It’s not every day when I man an Adobe booth at an education tradeshow talking with our education customers that I suddenly see someone in front of me practically jumping up and down and waving their arms to get my attention. Usually educators stop by our Adobe booth and politely ask us questions about education pricing, when the next versions of our software is due out and where they can learn more about professional development or certification. But at the last CUE (Computer-Using Educators) Conference held in Palm Springs, CA I rapidly finished up a conversation I was having and turned my attention to the woman at our booth who now had tears streaming down her cheeks and suddenly burst out, “Adobe save’s lives! Adobe changes lives! Thank you so much for all you do!”

I stood there jaw dropped and thunderstruck not quite sure of how to respond. I recall saying something really lame like “Excuse me!? Come again!?” But the woman standing there was now so emotionally choked up she couldn’t even speak! I sensed I better do something quick before she really started crying so I took her gently by the hand and asked her to sit down in our booth so I could calm her down.

After several minutes she finally did and said, “My name is Dr. Katherine Nell McNeil. I’m a Special Education teacher from the East County Academy of Learning in the Lakeside Union School District in San Diego, California. I want you to know for all the work that Adobe does, to each employee who has had a hand in making your software a reality, you all need to know that I stand up and yell thank you. Adobe saves lives. Adobe changes lives. You guys are dream makers not dream breakers. Through your products my students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders learn not only how to make award winning digital media designs, but also develop new behaviors, higher order thinking skills, academic and social skills which they previously did not possess”.

Now it was my turn to get emotional. I remember getting tears in my eyes and blurting something like “Wow! Really!? Thank you for sharing this!” Dr McNeil went on to tell me she has been a special ed. teacher for over ten years and by using digital media design tools like Photoshop, she’s made a profound difference in many of her students behavior. She stated many of students have severe learning disabilities including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHAD). But through the use of digital media tools many of her kids have been able to turn their lives around by expressing themselves and building self-confidence using these tools. In fact she beamed when she informed me that several of her students won ribbons at the recent California Del Mar fair for their digital media creations made with Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe tools.

Photo sent to me from Dr McNeil & her student's showing examples of their Adobe Photoshop work including ribbons!

To learn more about this prolific powerhouse educator, Dr. McNeil and her special education teaching techniques check out this great video interview with her made by the San Diego Department of Education (SDDOE) at the link below.

Adobe Photoshop’s 20th Anniversary! Celebrating 20 years of Photoshop.
In the late 1980s, Thomas Knoll and John Knoll developed a pixel-imaging program — first called Display, then Image Pro, and finally Photoshop. They made a well-received presentation to Russell Brown at Adobe and then licensed Photoshop to Adobe in 1988. The rest is history.
For 20 years, the world has used Adobe Photoshop software to transform creative inspiration into nearly everything we see in print, online, and across media. It’s time to celebrate — and see what today’s Photoshop family of products can do for you.

Photoshop 20th Anniversary: Startup Memories
In this documentary, the founders of Adobe Photoshop – John Knoll, Thomas Knoll, Russell Brown, and Steve Guttman – tell the story of how an amazing coincidence of circumstances, that came together at just the right time 20 years ago, spawned a cultural paradigm shift unparalleled in our lifetime.

Have a question about Photoshop Elements 7 or Soundbooth CS4? Would you like to learn how other K12 or higher education educators are using Dreamweaver? Then check out our Adobe Education Technologies Facebook Group!Screenshot above – Our Adobe Education Technologies Facebook Group Page